Beginning Anew
by Dolphin02
Summary: "Hello?" Serena's voice carried through the empty room easily. She wiped dust off the table. Their house. Bet he didn't think that Serena would have to abandon it. Bet he didn't think his first visit to Lumiose as Champion would result in death. In memory of the Paris shooting. Part of the Grief Collection.


**AN: This is really, really short, I know, but still, I had to make Serena's story different from the other two, because I imagined things happening differently. It just kinda flowed out of me, so I thought I ended appropriately. I hope. ;)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Or their characters. Thank you very much.**

* * *

Serena sighed, pushing open the rickety wooden door open. A cloud of dust tickled her nose, and she sneezed. The sound caused the chirping birds to pause for a moment, before resuming their cheery singing.

Four years.

Four years ago, Calem had bought this 'little' wooden cottage for the both of them. But then the jerk had to go and get himself killed.

Serena took a deep breath of the musty air, taking in what used to be the living room. "Hello?" Serena's voice carried through the empty room easily. She wiped dust off the table. Part of the legs were eaten away by termites, the lights flickered as the power generator started. "I'm home! Without you! Calem? Your ghost isn't here, I'm guessing? If they even exist."

 _Their_ house. Bet he didn't think that Serena would have to abandon it. Bet he didn't think his first visit to Lumiose as Champion would result in death.

It had been a long time.

She hadn't been able to bring herself back home. Not after he died for her.

She still remembered everything clear as day. Every stuffy, ticking second she waited for him.

The exact moment he came shouting onto her street, the exact second the bullet entered his body. And her earth-shattering scream that followed.

She didn't remember anything else that night. Serena had been blindly led around, felt nothing, heard nothing, and remembered nothing.

* * *

 _Serena was getting impatient. She and Talonflame had flew into Lumiose twenty minutes ago._

 _Calem wanted to catch up with Paul, and Paul was going out to eat with Dawn and May, so Calem had decided to join them. He had promised her a date to the football stadium afterwards. At 8:30._

 _Now it was nearly nine._

 _Serena tapped her foot absentmindedly, slowly surveying the large, busy, normal street as people bustled by._

 _But wait. Everything was not normal. Why were there ten times the normal amount of people here?_

 _Serena didn't like that. So, she started asking around. "What's going on?" Serena gently tapped the shoulder of an old woman, who was busy glaring at her grandson. "Do you know why there's people that keep coming onto our street?" Serena asked in rapid French, not even bothering to look at the child._

" _No! Why would I?" the lady snapped grumpily, reaching out to snag her grandson's collar. "You get back here young man!"_

 _Serena sighed, and continued on, asking the gentleman to her left. He didn't know either. Or the woman in the fedora behind him. Or the two teenage twins that grinned toothily, and said nothing, only signed in sign language._

 _The uneasy mutterings of the pedestrians rose steadily, more people catching on that there was something wrong, but no one knew what._

" _SERENA!"_

 _Serena looked up, startled, as she saw Calem barreling towards her, smoke trailing off his clothes, his face ashy, and shirt wrinkled and torn._

" _Arceus. Calem!" she said shrilly, not even recognizing her own voice._

 _The crowd parted quickly for him, and he continued sprinting towards her. More dirty, ragged people stumbled onto their street, and gunshots and explosions followed._

" _RUN!" voices screamed out, running frantically, as people rushed towards the opposite side of the street._

 _The crowd exploded, rushing as one, away from the fight, and Serena felt herself get crushed in the mass of people, still too far away from Calem. So she fought the crowd, the current of people. She pushed and shoved, desperate to get to her fiance._

" _Calem! Calem, here! Help! Calem!" Serena yelped, stretching out her hand over a young girl, straining to get to him._

" _No Rena! RUN! They'll kill you! I'm right behind you!" Calem shouted, motioning for her to turn around._

 _And so Serena did._

 _But when the gunshots crackled loudly in the air, and people around Calem started to fall, Serena whipped around to stare in horror. And that split second before the bullet hit Calem, she saw the one, desperate plea in his eyes._

 _RUN._

 _Serena's scream made nearly everyone wince, and run even faster. She could hear the sucking, squelching sound as the bullet hit home, right in the left side of Calem's back. His heart. Two more thumps hit his back. His eyes rolled back and blood made its way out of Calem's mouth._

 _Serena felt like throwing up._

 _But she had to run. She_ _ **had**_ _to run. So she did._

 _She ran and ran and ran. She ran after her shoes fell off, feet pounding on the cement. She ran after her socks somehow flew off, exposing her bare feet. She still kept running after her feet blistered and bled, not feeling a lick of pain._

 _Run. Run. Run. Just keep running. Calem wants you to run. Run, run, run._

 _Blackness closed around Serena's mind, absolutely nothing filling every little crevice her mind up. Everything. She just had to keep running. That's all she knew. And she did._

* * *

Serena breathed deeply, the scent of rotting wood, dust, and damp earth filled her nose as she fought the worst memory she had, off. She didn't want to relive it. No. She didn't.

The scent of the forest was overwhelming. Yet, she could still smell the sharp smell of melting cheese, and pasta burning. No, that was simply a memory of the past. The night Calem proposed. He had made macaroni and cheese. Well...attempted.

That had been a good night. She remembered the love and adoration in his eyes as he nervously got on one knee. Serena had found the ring of course; she was much more cunning than her nervous fiance. So, she had pretended to think for a minute, making Calem's hands so sweaty, when he slipped the ring onto her finger later, he almost dropped the ring.

She missed him.

Serena grabbed one of the more sturdier looking chairs, and sat down, closing her eyes as memories assaulted her. "Oh Calem. How the world would be different if you were living."

Misty had found her on the day of the shooting, still running wild in the street, eyes crazed and almost dead-like. They had brought her to the hospital, and was put in the mental ward.

She was crazy, everyone said. Insane. Crazy. She didn't think, her mind was fractured and broken. Don't believe Serena. She's crazy.

Only Leaf never believed a word they said. At least, Serena had thought she didn't.

* * *

 _Serena rocked back and forth on the bed, the drugs suffocating her need to talk to someone. "Leaf...bye bye. I'm crazy. I crazy. Bye, bye. Get out. See ya. I crazy. Stay away from me. Crazy. That's me."_

 _Serena was muttering incoherently, not making sense and looking straight at Leaf. When Leaf didn't move, she slowly stood up, her thin legs shaking from the effort. Barely eating and drinking, the doctors thought that they might've needed to force feed her. She reached over, and pulled Leaf up. Then she started yanking her towards the door, not even caring how firm her grip was._

" _Out, out, out! It's dangerous to be around me! I'm crazy haven't you heard? I'm insane!" Serena giggled along with her words, the drugs running through her bloodstream, making her feel giddy, yet subdued. "I'm going to explode! Yup! The drugs are coming! Better get out while you can!"_

 _What little sense she had left before the drugs completely took over urged her to get Leaf to safety. Get her out of there and keep her safe. She hadn't ever seen her 'drug-insanity acts'. And Serena didn't ever want her to either._

 _She shoved the frozen Leaf out of the room and locked it shut._

 _Then the worse part started. The drugs really started to be absorbed into her system and she shuddered as pain, euphoria, and pure energy raged through her weak body._

 _The closest object, a book, was tossed across the room, running into a tray of empty, glass containers, most shattering on impact, and if they didn't, they fell to the floor and shattered there._

 _After that, it was mayhem. Anything she could get her hands on, she destroyed. She wasn't even sure what she was doing. Just that Calem was gone, she had extra energy, and this room would really look better trashed. Yes, it would._

" _Destroy. Death. Carnage. Bullet. Calem. Dead. I. Wish. To. Be. Dead. Too. Destroy. Shatter. Crush. Ruin," Serena muttered beneath her breath, throwing a new object with every word she uttered._

" _Make it stop!" she screamed into the empty room, the metal door pounding as voices and bodies threw themselves at the door, begging her to open it and subject them to her pain. No, Serena wouldn't do that._

 _She would feel the jagged cuts on her hand from shattered glass, or whatever she had cut herself on. The pain was relieving, making her feel better. Reminding her of herself and her pain. Distracting the drugs._

 _Serena panted loudly, her whole body shaking with barely suppressed rage. Pure adrenaline ran through her, making her want to SMASH. DESTROY._

 _But she shouldn't. That...something wasn't right._

 _Oh, right. The drugs._

 _She shuddered, pain racking her body. "Arceus. Make it stop please!" Serena crumpled onto the floor, exhausted as the drugs lessened their grip on her. It was all the doctor's fault. Some 'calming drug'. It just made her crazy. Well, other people said, 'even more crazy'._

 _Serena stared at the crumpled paper and shattered glass that cut into her skin, all over the floor._

 _She just stared for hours. Until Nurse Joy finally got a hold of the keys to the backdoor, and all of her friends piled into the room, most staring in horror at the wasted room. The most surprised was Leaf._

" _Rena…" Leaf breathed, her eyes welling up with tears. "What have you done?"_

* * *

Serena slowly brought herself out of that memory. She had thought Leaf finally believed the rumors of Serena's craziness. But she wasn't. She was just...grieving. She was just letting out her sadness. and the drugs made it worse. Made her want to destroy.

But Leaf hadn't believed the rumors of the craziness. No, when she said, 'what have you done', she had meant, 'why did you give in to the drugs?'. And after that, Leaf fought with her life to never had drugs pumped into Serena. She would be okay, but not with the drugs. She just needed to grieve.

And Serena was okay after that. She let Calem go the minute the world went dark around her, and started running. She was doing for Calem's memory. She didn't need to go through that 'letting go' stage. She just wanted to be sad and depressed for a while. She had just wanted to learn how to cope with Calem being gone.

Couldn't they have let her done that without pumping her full of morphine? Or euphoria? Or whatever the hell they chose to subdue Serena with? Because it obviously didn't work.

Serena stood up, and dug through the dirty, old shelves, looking for their old teapot. Maybe some tea would help with the assault of memories.

But they didn't. When she finally sat down to sip her green tea with two spoonfuls of honey(she brought it with her. Wasn't she smart?), the best memories started crowding out the bad, but even those were painful.

* * *

" _Hey, I love you. You know that right?" Calem said, gray eyes bright with worry, cupping Serena's cheeks gently, staring into her blue ones._

" _I...uh, yeah. I do," Serena said quietly, trying to avoid his intense gaze. They had just had their first major fight, and this was making up._

" _Do you? Because I think you're telling yourself that I'm only saying that to look good. I do, Serena. Do you believe that?" Calem's voice was soft, gentle, and so full of love. "But I'm not doing to look good. I love you, Serena. Is that alright with you? And now that I found you, I'm never letting you go. Is that alright, Rena?"_

 _Serena could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she gripped the fabric of the bed sheets tightly, blinking furiously to not cry._

" _Yeah," she said softly. "I know. It's just...you were so...scary."_

 _Calem had looked ashamed of himself. "I know Rena. And I'm so sorry."_

" _That's okay, because you'd never hurt me, right?" Serena sounded like a child, innocent and kind._

" _Yes," Calem agreed, "I'd never hurt you. Ever."_

* * *

The steam wafted over the cup, and Serena held her nose daintily over it, pinky up, just like her mother had taught her.

She thought back to the unfortunate day Serena had to teach Calem correct, polite etiquette before they went to dinner at the Fioretti's house, who were very polite and elegant people.

And Calem...wasn't. At all.

* * *

" _No Calem!" Serena giggled, reaching over to pluck his overturn teacup right-side up._

" _You do it like this."_

 _She lifted her pinky up, and gracefully clasped her other fingers around the teacup, putting just enough pressure to secure it, yet looking graceful and polite._

" _Rena! I can't do it like that! I'm a man! Not a woman!" Calem chided, but his eyes twinkled._

" _A man?" Serena snorted, "You're no man. You're just a boy. A boy who has to be polite or my mom's going to kick him out."_

 _A cheeky smile made it's way onto Serena's face as Calem grumbled and began again, trying to master the art of lifting a teacup. Gracefully. And elegantly._

* * *

Serena finished her tea, and washed out the delicate teacup with detergent and warm water.

She would probably have to refurnish everything. The walls needed to be replaced, the furniture, the counters and built in tables...everything.

Everything reminded her of Calem. And even the smallest smile from a stranger, would result in Serena flashing back to one of Calem's rare smiles, shoving his sunglasses down shyly.

She sighed again, and leaned back. Looking at everything around her. The wallpaper was peeling a little bit on the left side. Just like her heart.

She thought of the one she loved. She winced, as she thought about that word. Love.

Serena did love Calem. She still did. But it was time to begin again, and start her life over, with Calem at the edge of her mind. Not the center.

Serena sneezed as some dust clouded over her nose. "Achoo!"

Again, the noise simply echoed. Yes, it was time to begin anew.

Serena Fioretti pushed off the counter, and started walking towards her purse.

"Hello? Do Your Own Home Furnishings. How may I help you?"

"Yes, um...can you redo my entire house?"

"Ma'am? The entire house? How big is it?"

"Three stories tall, seventy five feet by eighty feet base, and it has two lower levels."

"...Ma'am? That's….close to two million dollars, if you want everything done."

"That's alright," Serena said cheerfully.

"May I call you later for the details ma'am?"

"Yes, that would be great. Au revoir!"

"Au revoir, madame."

Serena snapped shut the phone. She spun around and walked out the door.

Memories of the past, were the past. She was beginning from the start. She was simply restarting her life, and she would do that, by redoing everything.

* * *

 **AN: Okay, so maybe it didn't turn out as well. Did it? I'm not sure. Could you please be a nice, kind, _elegant_ person, and tell me how you thought? Thanks! :)**

 **This completes the Grief Collection. Hey, each one gets shorter. I just noticed that. Oh, well. The stories wrote themselves. Not me. :)**

 **Again, my sincere condolences to the people in Paris. I hope that everything works out for all those who are grieving. :(**

 **-Ang**


End file.
